A report from the meeting of The American Geriatrics Society held
in Seattle focused on the differences between reported health issues
affecting male and female spousal caregivers. The period of concern for
the caregiver’s health covered the time during active caregiving and
continued up to three years after the death of his or her spouse.

According to the report, the health of surviving wives suffered more
than the health of surviving husbands. A post on the New Old Age Blog
titled A Special Burden for Women discusses
the findings of University of California, San Francisco, researchers.
Not surprisingly, the researchers say that caring for an ailing spouse
is extremely difficult emotionally and physically for either gender.
However, the researchers discovered that three years after the death of
their spouse, surviving wives reportedly fared worse than surviving
husbands.